Recesky TLR Camera
Having fun with this DIY toy 35mm camera. I ordered one from ebay and it came in paper -string wrapped- packaging with an instruction manual I'm certain was a google translate job with words like virtual for visual.
Be prepared for little screws, and three fiddly springs at the shutter construction. I took my time and watched this youtube video.
Make sure the lenses are aligned. There are two little dots on each to align. The google translated instruction manual is not clear about this. You focus these lenses by turning them in and out.
Its basic design works well, the view finder really works even if it is just a mirror, however there is no counter and winding the film is helped by pushing the back plate.
Swiss army knife
I got the hiker model for whittling after a friend gave me the little book of whittling.
Adventures in north Iceland
The two responses I get when I tell someone I visited Iceland are 'Ohh' followed by silence, or 'you mean the shop?' I also find it difficult to explain how great it was. Most of these images are taken on 35mm film with a trip 35 and xa2. Videos are from my phone.
For most of my visit I stayed in Akureyri, a little city with a population smaller than most towns. It has everything you would expect to find in a city, except busy crowds of people.
Akureyrarkirkja, the church, sits on a hill overlooking the city. The flim got a little exposed here somehow, I kinda like it.
The weirdest place my friend took me to is the Christmas house, a grotto open all year round. You can buy crafted Christmas ornaments whilst listening to festive music. I had to tell myself it's June.
Arna drove me to the Mývatn area which includes Goðafoss, a large waterfall. Waterfalls are all over the place in Iceland, the large ones attract a lot of tourists armed with cameras.
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Hvitserkur is the last remains of a central volcano (-is that really true?) From the main road, it's a half hour ride down a small road, which left Arna's poor car covered in dirt. To get to the beach we climbed down a cliff.
I found an awesome beer called viking stout at a local bowling ally on a drunk bowling bout. I don't remember if it was Arna who introduced me to it or-? I'm guessing, for a country where lager is commonplace, it's the only dark beer Viking Ölgerd brews. Other beers I tried were thule (okay), Egils Gull (better), and Víking Gylltur (best of the lot.)
What I leant in north Iceland; nobody walks, the distances are too big to bother and most of the year it's cold anyway. People do not sleep and it doesn't get dark in the summer so I didn't either. There are intermissions at the cinema, which give you enough time for a quick walk across the street to buy a beer. Everyone likes ice cream, everyone. The air is very dry, making hikes hard -I thought I was dying just walking up a hill. Rotten shark (Hákarl) is good with beer. You have to drive with your headlights on. There are no multi-lane roads in the north, which made Reykjavik difficult to adjust to.
